Of Winds and Waves

If you saw Xander Siklon at school, you probably wouldn’t look twice. Sure his one stormy grey eye and one electric blue eye might strike you at first, but you’d get used to them. Sure he may be rather fast and jump rather high, but he was no Usain Bolt. And even if he was, he almost never ran unless being pursued by bullies. He spent most of his time nose deep in books. He was just an average sixteen year old boy.

If you asked his friends to tell you about Xander, there wouldn’t be much to tell. They could talk about how he seemed to brighten the mood of everyone around him. They could tell you how his laugh seemed to clear the skies themselves. Maybe they’d tell you that when he entered a room, it was almost as if he had his own personal breeze. But they wouldn’t tell you about Xander’s family.

Xander’s parents had abandoned him at the age of fourteen. The child services couldn’t find a suitable home for him, so once he turned sixteen, they allowed him to live on his own. At the end of each month, they would provide him with $4000 to spend on groceries, rent and basic living needs.

Seems like Xander isn’t so unexceptional after all, is he?

Xander loved the beach and loved to travel. Whenever he did go to the beach, it seemed the day couldn’t be more perfect. There were always clear skies, a light breeze and beautiful weather.

After a week of planning and carefully budgeting his money, on the first day of Xander’s summer vacation, he went on a trip to Greece. He planned to visit a different beach every week.

In the second week he went to visit Mykonos beach. Xander explored deeper and deeper into the waters, allowing them to carry his thoughts and negative emotions away.

While Xander was swimming in the pristine waters something felt amiss. The normally clear skies were growing cloudy and the light breeze was turning into a violent gale. Just as Xander decided to head back to shore, something grabbed his leg.

“What the- get off me!” He exclaimed, kicking fiercely. But whatever it was held firm and began dragging him below.

Soon, he was completely submerged. He fought against whatever was holding him but he was out of his element. As he slipped out of consciousness, he heard a clear voice.

“I hope you can help us, Skyborne.”

When Xander woke up he found himself in a palatial room, surrounded by strange looking people. They looked humanoid enough to pass for normal humans but there were small details that set them apart. For one, their skin was tinted in every shade of blue. From almost white to navy blue. They wore shark tooth necklaces and clothes that seemed to be made from a thick kelp-like material.

“Cliast souile Xander Siklon?” One of the creatures said.

Xander suddenly remembered that he had just been kidnapped and frantically crab walked away from these creatures.

“Who are you? What are you? Where am I?” Xander demanded.

A stately looking figure emerged from the crowd. This one’s necklace had a shark tooth studded with a prismarine shard.

“Please relax Xander. Those are all good questions we will get to in due time.” it said.

“DON’T TELL ME TO RELAX! YOU JUST KIDNAPPED ME!” Xander was too distraught to register that the creature knew his name.

“We did not kidnap you. We merely brought you to our domain without your consent.”

“THAT’S WHAT KIDNAPPING IS!”

“Hmm, is it? We’ve been underwater for so long, I suppose we’ve forgotten what certain words mean.”

“Wait… underwater?”

The man (Xander supposed he was a man) looked at Xander as if waiting for him to figure something out.

“Greece… underwater city… sunken for a long time… No way. Impossible! I thought it was just a myth!” Xander said.

“Thought what was a myth?” The man asked.

Xander looked up, “Am I… in Atlantis?”

The man smiled, his teeth were as bright as pearls. “Indeed you are.”

“How? And who are you?” Xander asked.

“Quite simple, we brought you here. I am Xesotho. As for who we are, the atlanteans. We used to be a normal race of humans, until the city sank.”

“How did it sink? I always thought it was a volcano.”

Xesotho laughed without mirth, “A volcano! Yes well, they certainly struck with the force of one.”

“They?”

“My boy, Atlantis did not sink because of a volcano. The very foundations of our city were destroyed in the war against the Pyriors.”

“Pyriors?”

“We will tell you the full story soon. For now, we have a request of you.”

“I’m listening.”

“Xander, you are the first human in centuries to be possessed of the powers of atmokinesis and aerokinesis. Pyriors’s forces gain more and more power by the day. We cannot stop them on our own. But your powers can help us defeat this threat once and for all. I humbly beseech you, please join us.”

Xander was in shock. Two weeks ago, he was being chased down the school hallways by Michael Montehue. Now the king of Atlantis was asking for his help to fight this “Pyriors” with his so-called “atmokinesis”.

“I’m sorry but I think you’ve got the wrong guy. There’s no possible way that I’m the one who’s going to help you defeat this Pyriors. I hope that you can find the real atmokinesis person, but it’s not me. I’m sorry, but goodbye.”

Xander began walking toward the exit, the atlanteans muttering behind him.

“Xander, you cannot reject your destiny. Even if you don’t help us, Pyriors will hunt you down because of your powers.”

“I DON’T HAVE POWERS! Don’t you get it?”

As Xander continued walking away, Xesotho grabbed him by the shoulder. Xander whirled around.

“GET OFF OF ME!” He yelled.

Xesotho flew backwards much more than should have been possible. Xander’s personal breeze had turned into a storm, literally. Gray clouds appeared to be forming around him, with lightning flickering between them. The lightning and clouds began stitching together taking on the shape of an animal. A shark, Xander realized.

The storm shark roared, causing all the atlanteans to jump back several feet. It swam through the air right next to Xander. Almost as if it wanted him to mount it. Xander sat on the shark in a general riding posture. It was surprisingly solid. The lightning tendrils flickered harmlessly around him.

He rode his new steed around the hall, testing its speed, pushing its limits. When he hopped off the shark five minutes later, Xesotho was back on his feet smiling wide.

“Don’t have powers eh?” He said.

Xander suddenly felt ashamed. He had shouted at Xesotho, hadn’t believed him when he told Xander about his powers, and had used said powers to injure him.

“I’m sorry.” Xander said sheepishly.

“It’s quite alright. Just remember one thing. Our abilities can take us in many ways. But it is imperative that one choose the correct path, and fight for the good of all.”

“For sure.”

Xander’s shark began unstitching itself. Soon it returned to its normal formless, cloudy shape. But this time, instead of swirling around Xander, the storm solidified into a shark tooth charm on his wrist.

Xander suddenly felt very powerful. With this kind of power at his disposal, what was to stop him from taking over the world himself? Then he remembered what Xesotho said. Xander took a personal oath to only use his powers for the good of all.

“Can you train me? Right now I’m unpredictable. But with some help, I can become a force to be reckoned with.” Xander asked.

“Of course, my dear boy.”

For the next month, Xander underwent training to master and perfectly utilise his powers. He learned how to manipulate the air around him so that he could fly, he practiced summoning a lightning bolt and channeling it into any shape he wanted, including a sword. He learnt that by touching the tooth on his charm, he could summon his storm shark to aid him. By the end of the month, Xander could defeat even the mightiest atlantean warriors. And not a moment too soon.

The next week, a scout reported that Atlantis’s shields were being bombarded with greek fire. Xander led the atlantean army into battle to face Pyriors.

“SKYBORNE!” He bellowed when first laying eyes on Xander.

“PYRIORS! I am here to protect Atlantis from those who would see it razed! If you want to attack the city, you’re gonna have to get through me.” Xander punctuated this declaration by manifesting his lightning bolt sword.

“HA! So, Xesotho has taught you a few tricks! No matter, my forces will obliterate yours and then you and I will battle to the finish.”

“Atlanteans, attack on my command!”

“Puny human you cannot hope to-”

“ATTACK!”

It was a bloody conflict. Both armies were completely decimated. Xander mourned the loss of his soldiers, but Pyriors had no such qualms. By the end of the battle however, he was much less confident. Both armies were annihilated by each other.

“Pyriors, I’m not letting you get away with this. I will avenge the fallen, on both my side and yours.”

Xander charged forward on his steed, his blade raised high. Pyriors summoned his own sword to parry the blow. Both warriors fought fiercely, unleashing every move in their arsenal. Finally Xander managed to overcome Pyriors at swordpoint.

“It’s over, surrender now.” Xander said.

“It’s- only-over-when-I- say it is.” Pyriors snarled.He vanished in a burst of flames.

When Xander returned to Atlantis, he was greeted by Xesotho.

“Xander, I knew you could do-!”

Suddenly a very familiar looking sword stabbed through Xesotho’s chest. Xesotho collapsed, and his assassin was Pyriors.

“Well, how about that?” Pyriors remarked.

Xander bellowed in rage and bombarded Pyriors with lightning until he was but a speck on the floor.

Atlantis’s bane was no more, but he had taken its king as well.

Qetello